Sir, - In the most traumatic way, we in Ireland are recognising daily the vulnerability of children. The Government has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; appointed a junior Minister with responsibility for childcare and is - slowly - implementing the 1991, Childcare Act. Yet I read in your, paper (July 17th) that the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, in a new and welcome initiative to tackle unemployment, has identified childcare as one of the employment areas in addition to landscaping, office work, caretaking, energy conservation and maintenance.
What does this say about childcare? It certainly comes no where near acknowledging the critical nature of a job that requires special skills and training. Childcare is not babysitting, nor is it anything like parenting. Childcare is a difficult and undervalued job which impacts hugely on future society. Who cares indeed! - Yours etc., HAYES,
Co. Clare.